The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Receives the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award from the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission

Official SHM Press Release

Philadelphia, PA, March 14, 2012

The National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission have named the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) the recipient of the 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level.

SHM is the first national medical association recognized with the Eisenberg Award. The award acknowledges SHM for its innovative mentored implementation model, which has been utilized in more than 300 hospitals and touched tens of thousands of patients across the country.

"The Society of Hospital Medicine truly exemplifies the spirit of this award program," said Janet Corrigan, Ph.D, MBA, president and CEO, National Quality Forum. "Their innovative contributions to healthcare quality and safety will have a lasting impact for years to come. These efforts save lives, inspire leadership and serve as a beacon to other organizations that believe that the routine delivery of safe, effective care is not only possible, but achievable."
The award will be presented to the Society of Hospital Medicine at the National Quality Forum Annual Conference in Washington DC on April 5, 2012.

"We are truly honored to accept this prestigious award on behalf of the many hospitalists and improvement teams who have led programs to make their hospitals safer and more effective," says Senior Vice President of SHM’s Center for Hospital Innovation & Improvement, Gregory Maynard, MD, MSc, SFHM. "This award is much more than a validation of our model, it’s a testament to the commitment of front-line clinicians and support staff to improve healthcare."

The mentored implementation model pairs hospital teams with a mentor, a physician expert in quality improvement, to improve specific quality indicators. Under the guidance of a mentor, sites assess current processes, identify resources and deficiencies, and pilot interventions tailored to the unique needs of the local hospital. The teams carefully monitor their progress and implement system changes to sustain improvements in patient outcomes. Throughout the program, hospitals collaborate with peer sites via SHM’s online community.

SHM’s mentored implementation model has been adapted to address critical issues in hundreds of hospitals across the country. The Center’s three signature programs are:

Glycemic Control Mentored Implementation (GCMI) Program focuses on optimizing the care of inpatients with hyperglycemia and diabetes and preventing hypoglycemia. GCMI is now in 115 hospitals nationwide.

SHM is grateful to the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s Palliative Care Leadership Centers™ for pioneering the approach that led to SHM’s current mentored implementation model. SHM also acknowledges the financial support of the John A. Hartford Foundation to develop and pilot the program and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Sanofi-Aventis to develop disease-specific toolkits.

The John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards were established by The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum in 2002 in the memory of John M. Eisenberg, MD, MBA. Eisenberg, a native of Philadelphia, was an administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the founding leaders of the National Quality Forum, and chair of the federal government’s Quality Inter-Agency Coordination Task Force. Recipients of these awards are individuals and healthcare organizations that have contributed to the development of improving the quality of patient care, just as Dr. Eisenberg had pursued and achieved throughout his notable career.

For SHM President, Joseph Ming Wah Li, MD, SFHM, the award represents a major shift in thinking about healthcare quality.

"The impact of SHM's mentored implementation program reaches beyond short-term improvements in patient outcomes. SHM mentors are training a generation of caregivers to lead system-wide improvement initiatives. SHM is committed to the continued support of these clinical champions, our members, and the development of additional hospitalist leaders needed to transform healthcare."

About SHM

Representing the fastest growing specialty in modern healthcare, the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) is the leading medical society for more than 34,000 hospitalists and their patients. SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients and overall excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through quality improvement, education, advocacy and research. Over the past decade, studies have shown that hospitalists can contribute to decreased patient lengths of stay, reductions in hospital costs and readmission rates, and increased patient satisfaction.

For more information about SHM and hospital medicine, specifically related to quality improvement and patient safety, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/thecenter.